War Zones
The world took notice when two female suicide bombers set off
blasts that killed over 50 people on March 29th 2010 at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury stations of the Moscow Metro system – the second most heavily used metro system in the world. These terrorist bombings have been connected to the Chechen separatist movement. Chechnya is a small area in Russia’s Caucasus region, now incorporated into Russia as a ‘federal subject’ (according to Wikipedia article on Chechnya). With just over 1 million people, the Chechens have a long and tragic history of resistance to Russian hegemony.
During World War II, Stalin forcibly exiled its entire population to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Thousands of Chechens died. After Stalin’s death, the Chechens were allowed to return to their native land. In the 1990’s with the collapse of the USSR, Chechnya struggled for more independence from central Russian control. This led to the Russian-Chechen Wars (1994-96 and 1999-2000). Tens of thousands of Russians and Chechens died in these two conflicts and hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their homes.
To understand the ongoing human rights issues in Chechnya investigate the reports and briefings of Human Rights Watch and read the U.S. Department of State Annual Report on Human Rights Practices (Russian section), a report that covers individual, civil, political, and worker rights abuses on a country-by-country basis. Radio Free Europe covers the Caucasus, as does a fascinating internet mass medium site called Caucasian Knot.
To try to grasp what would drive two young women to destroy themselves and innocent civilians, hundreds of miles from Chechnya, check out The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War by Asne Seierstad. The Norwegian journalist Seierstad , who covered the 1994-96 Russian-Chechen war, returns to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya to see how fares the land. The title Angel of Grozny refers to the Chechen woman Hadijat Gatayeva who has turned her own home into an orphanage for street children left homeless from the wars.
The horrors of the Russian-Chechen Wars were committed by both sides
and reporting on these conflicts was very, very dangerous. To avoid public condemnation and interference, Russia banned journalists from Chechnya and censored Russian news. In One Soldier’s War
, Arkady Babchenko who fought on the Russian side in both conflicts, first as an 18-year old draftee from Moscow and later as a volunteer regular soldier has written a compelling expose and firsthand account of the brutality of the wars – on both sides. Many of the stories in One Soldiers War had never appeared in print before. Babchenko has been called one of the best of all war reporters.
blasts that killed over 50 people on March 29th 2010 at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury stations of the Moscow Metro system – the second most heavily used metro system in the world. These terrorist bombings have been connected to the Chechen separatist movement. Chechnya is a small area in Russia’s Caucasus region, now incorporated into Russia as a ‘federal subject’ (according to Wikipedia article on Chechnya). With just over 1 million people, the Chechens have a long and tragic history of resistance to Russian hegemony.
During World War II, Stalin forcibly exiled its entire population to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Thousands of Chechens died. After Stalin’s death, the Chechens were allowed to return to their native land. In the 1990’s with the collapse of the USSR, Chechnya struggled for more independence from central Russian control. This led to the Russian-Chechen Wars (1994-96 and 1999-2000). Tens of thousands of Russians and Chechens died in these two conflicts and hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their homes.
To understand the ongoing human rights issues in Chechnya investigate the reports and briefings of Human Rights Watch and read the U.S. Department of State Annual Report on Human Rights Practices (Russian section), a report that covers individual, civil, political, and worker rights abuses on a country-by-country basis. Radio Free Europe covers the Caucasus, as does a fascinating internet mass medium site called Caucasian Knot.
To try to grasp what would drive two young women to destroy themselves and innocent civilians, hundreds of miles from Chechnya, check out The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War by Asne Seierstad. The Norwegian journalist Seierstad , who covered the 1994-96 Russian-Chechen war, returns to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya to see how fares the land. The title Angel of Grozny refers to the Chechen woman Hadijat Gatayeva who has turned her own home into an orphanage for street children left homeless from the wars.The horrors of the Russian-Chechen Wars were committed by both sides
and reporting on these conflicts was very, very dangerous. To avoid public condemnation and interference, Russia banned journalists from Chechnya and censored Russian news. In One Soldier’s War
One of the bravest and ultimately most tragic of journalists committed to telling the truth about war and politics has been Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya was murdered outsider of her Moscow apartment in October 2006 – most likely for her constant exposure of corruption in Russia and for her reporting on Chechnya. Read any of these to see what so enraged her opponents:
- Karen S.
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